There's much debate on the causes of climate change. Scientists, politicians and opinion leaders all take the stage to present their vision or ideas. However, cool(E)motion is not focused on the possible causes of climate change. We merely note that the climate is changing, whatever the cause. Let's now focus on what this means for the Arctic. And more specifically, what will happen to traditional culture, when hunters can't trust the ice, when seals disappear and wheater condition deteriorate?

Cool(e)motion urges those in power to focus on the cultural effects of climate changes. We seek attention for this message by creating giant sculptures on ice bergs that will float when spring comes. This way, the sculptural 'hunters' can search for new hunting grounds for people in the Arctic.

Friday, 4 June 2010

The Arctic Knights. Comments of Ap (2)

With the help of our good friends from Uummannaq we realised this unique project on a scale that nobody could expect. A small island in Greenland that shaked the whole world. From Canada, USA, Europe, Australia, upto complete Asia many TV stations put Uummannaq on the map. Hundreds of publications in all languages in newspapers and on internet. We never believed, when we started this project, that these results could be achieved.

The people in Uummannaq are one of the most brave in the world. Despite the problems they already have to cope with, they are recently confronted with an extreme changing climate. So extreme that their culture of fishing and hunting has to be adapted rapidly to these unexpected fast changes. If everybody would expect that this is a unhuman effort, not in Uummannaq, Greenland. People go for it! Their flexibility is unknown and therefore they will find their way. That's not an easy path, one paved with difficulties and huge problems. Since thousands of years Inuit have to adapt to new circumstances in hostile conditions, and the existence of a town like Uummannaq is the proof of success. The knights of the Arctic! When we started our project, two years ago, success couldn't be guaranteed, but local organisations as Uummannaq Polar Institute and many many people, like Ole Jorgen Hammeken believed in it and helped us to make it happen. That mentality is what Uummannaq makes it unique for the rest of the world. Uummannaq means: 'heart shaped'.